Ontario Agri-Food Discovery Centre planned for Listowel area

A pre-COVID vision of creating a children’s museum in Listowel has been transformed into dreams of one day opening “a state-of-the-art facility that brings agriculture and food production to life for visitors of all ages.”

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On Dec. 19, that team of volunteers – now supported by a part-time administrative assistant courtesy of the Municipality of North Perth – officially announced a new name and location for the planned attraction.

Why it matters: Fewer people are connected to farms in rural and urban areas, so a location which educates people, especially young people could help understanding of farming, along with creating a deeper labour pool.

“It will be the first of its kind in Canada,” said Atwood-area dairy farmer and Ontario Agri-Food Discovery Centre chair Steve Dolson in a recent interview with Farmtario.

The centre’s planned home is 10 acres of municipally-owned land on the northwest corner of Listowel.

A former chair of the Gay Lea Foods co-operative’s board of directors, Dolson cited Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana and the Food+Farm Exploration Center in Wisconsin as examples that the Discovery Centre board – newly renamed from its original title, the Huron Perth Agricultural Science Centre – looked to for inspiration.

Dolson’s vision is that the centre serves not only as a tourist attraction but also as an inspiration to the region’s youth to consider career opportunities in agriculture and food processing within their own communities.

“We’re kind of referring to this as our ‘coming out of the closet’,” Dolson joked after recounting the organization’s beginnings prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when a children’s museum was the focus. An early consultant’s report suggested that idea might not fly due to numerous other museums with children-friendly features in the region. The consultant said that an ag-focussed learning centre/attraction might be a better option.

Dolson responded to a local advertisement in late 2021 seeking volunteers with agricultural backgrounds to join the original board; several other farmers responded at the same time and the organization transformed itself to pursue the consultant’s suggested farm-focussed alternative.

Moving into the chair’s position with his Gay Lea governance experience, Dolson helped restructure the organization to fit the new goal and a heightened expectation about how much time, effort and cash it will require. A second consultant – one who worked previously with both the Science North facility in Sudbury and the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto – was hired, thanks to financial support from the Elora-based Grand River Agricultural Society and Listowel-based Trillium Mutual Insurance Company.

The new consultant met with many of the region’s municipal, business and agriculture-sector leaders and reported back to Dolson and the board in March 2024 that they were right: a facility like they envisioned would be a first-of-its-kind in Canada, could be very successful if planned and operated effectively and could become an integral part of a Perth County tourism infrastructure that begins with the famed Stratford Festival and fans out into the surrounding communities offering their own unique charms and attractions.

But that same consultant looked at the original proposal for a 20,000-square-foot facility and advised that the dream would most likely succeed if it was nearly twice that size.

“Some people would have put their tails between their legs and run the other way when they heard that,” Dolson commented. “But not our board.”

He suggested many farmers know all about making dollars stretch by taking things in phases. And that’s what the Discovery Centre’s board resolved to do.

“What happened is, I think we identified that we were doing something much bigger than Huron-Perth.” And they were doing something for more than just themselves but also for the next generation of young people growing up in the region.

However, the reality is that there are several steps to take before the organization can even approach community and corporate donors to ask for money specifically earmarked for building the facility. This includes enhanced concept drawings to reflect the larger scale, building a business plan and establishing a consistent marketing strategy.

“It’s a real challenge to raise funds (for these pre-construction activities) before you even get to the capital fundraising campaign,” Dolson said.

But he’s confident the organization is up to that challenge.

“We’re so excited that we are located in the centre of where so much of the agriculture and food production is happening in Ontario.”

He encouraged residents and business leaders in the region to watch for news of next steps for the Ontario Agri-Food Discovery Centre. “As we move forward with planning and fundraising, we invite you to join us in creating this world-class centre.”